May 4, 2016

A Shot of YA: Down With The Shine by Kate Kyrus Quinn

Lennie always thought her uncles’ “important family legacy” was good old-fashioned bootlegging. Then she takes some of her uncles’ moonshine to Michaela Gordon’s annual house party, and finds out just how wrong she was.

At the party, Lennie has everyone make a wish before drinking the shine—it’s tradition. She toasts to wishes for bat wings, for balls of steel, for the party to go on forever. Lennie even makes a wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was murdered six months ago.

The next morning gives Lennie a whole new understanding of the phrase be careful what you wish for—or in her case, be careful what wishes you grant. Because all those wishes Lennie raised a jar of shine to last night? They came true. Most of them came out bad. And once granted, a wish can’t be unmade

I have the blues and DOWN WITH THE SHINE by the brilliantly funny, Kate Kyrus Quinn,is just what I needed! Thanks to my fellow bloggers who've read this and reviewed it before me, I didn't realize how much I needed to laugh til I started drinking Lennie's moonshine.

The Setting & World: When I hear "moonshine" it immediately conjures Hickville. That's not the case here but Lennie's uncles do fall under the stereotype bootleggers: huge, intimidating, hillbilly-like but very adorable and unexpectedly kind folks. Majority of the cast are high school seniors which explains their silly and ridiculous wishes, with a good peppering of... curious individuals with abilities of their own.

The magic is djinn-like, when you make a wish you have to be very careful of your wording because it can be quite literal. Like you want balls of steel? That's exactly what you'll get: a pair of shiny, flawless, stainless steel testicles; just as W2. There's also no explanation where Lennie's wish-granting capabilities came from or the rest of "their kind" either.

Dark Comedy: I can't help but laugh, snort, giggle, and smile my way through this one-sitting, un-put-down-able read! Lennie reminded me a lot of the unpopular, infamous, wily, HS underdog we often see in coming-of-age movies: adorable, desperate, and will resort to anything, in this case smuggle moonshine at a party, in an effort to be cool. But the moonshine and the "harmless" wishing that goes with your first sip does more than give you a buzz and a massive hangover the next day. Like I mentioned, the wishes are crazy and the outcomes hilarious! But there's also some darkness involved and although the results are presented in a silly way, the ending isn't happy. Lennie's BFF Dylan is just the first of many victims and the unexpected resolution is very sobering. That's a bullet-sized napalm hit that Lennie dodged.

DOWN WITH THE SHINE surprised me in more ways than one. I was hoping to be entertained and forget my troubles for a day, I wasn't expecting KKQuinn to have me in stitches, laughing at her dark and comedic YA urban fantasy. I'm absolutely gobsmacked how a young-adult novel had such an effect on me, a genre I avoid more than crave. What's more, I didn't realize that I had a book hangover til days after. I can't focus on my next read because I kept thinking about Lennie and how much I want to read another book set in this world or at least a novel that is similar in tone and texture! So KKQuinn, if you're reading this, either write a sequel, a spin-off, ANYTHING that will take us back to this world you created, and I WISH it's just as funny, if not funnier than DOWN WITH THE SHINE.

Yay! I'm thrilled you loved Down With the Shine as well!! This was my first reading experience with Quinn and I had such a great read with the dark humor in it. I'm hoping to try her other books as well. Great review, Braine :)

Girl I just love your reviews! I just did a blog tour for this title, I'll be reading and reviewing sometime next week hopefully, but yesss I can't wait! I've been let down by some YA debuts so far this year, so when my anticipated reads deliver, it makes me a happy camper lol.

I recently won a giveaway and picked this one as my prize as I kept hearing good things about it and that cover is so pretty! It sounds like it has the right mixture of fun and seriousness. And I am sure it will be fun to see how everyone's wishes are going to turn out. And coincidentally I am reading a book with djinn like wishes magic right now as well. Great review and I am looking forward to reading this one!